Indian government likely to spend USD 7.8 billion on IT in 2017

Government programmes like affordable housing and increased loans to SMEs are likely to have a positive impact on IT, according to Gartner.

The Indian government is estimated to spend USD 7.8 billion on IT in 2017, 7.5 percent increase from 2016, according to Gartner. This is down from Gartner's previous projection of 9.5 percent for government's IT spending growth in 2017.

"The 2 percent revision in our outlook is primarily due to the effects of demonetization and a drop in industrial production," said Moutusi Sau, principal research analyst at Gartner. "However, spending plans like affordable housing scheme, and increased loans to small and medium enterprises by the government are likely to have a positive effect on IT spending in the next few quarters."

IT services which include consulting, software support, business process outsourcing, IT outsourcing, implementation, and hardware support are expected to grow 10.8 percent in 2017 to reach USD 2 billion, making it the largest IT spending category. Devices which include printers/copiers/MFPs, mobile devices, PCs and tablets are expected to grow 10.4 percent in 2017 to reach USD 1.1 billion.

The forecasts provide total enterprise IT spending, including internal spending and multiple lines of detail for spending on hardware, software, IT services, and telecommunications for vertical industries and 43 countries within seven geographies of the world.